Heat wave grips north India; Delhi experiences season's hottest day

New Delhi: It was a blazing weekend across northern and central India with Delhi recording its hottest day of the season on Sunday at 46.1 degrees Celsius - five notches above average. Other states like Haryana and Rajasthan experienced hotter temperatures.

No respite is expected as the dry heat is likely to continue, according to officials from the MeT department. The temperature in the capital is expected to hover around a high of 45 degrees and low of 27 degrees today.

Temperatures on Sunday soared to 47 degrees in Maharashtra's Nagpur, and over 43 degrees even in Himachal hills. Orange city Nagpur - which is the geographical centre of India - on Saturday recorded a maximum of 47 degrees, making it the hottest place in the country.

An intense heat wave has been sweeping across large parts of India from the plains of Punjab and Haryana to Maharashtra's Vidarbha region even as early monsoon has arrived in Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The Vidarbha towns of Wardha and Bhandara, as well as the Konkan and north Maharashtra regions recorded temperatures above 45 degrees Saturday.

Hisar in Haryana was the hottest in the two states with the mercury hitting a high of 46 degrees, five degrees above what is the average for this time of the season.

Narnaul recorded a high of 45.5 degrees. The minimum temperature Sunday was 29 degrees, the highest low in the region.

In Punjab, the Sikh holy city of Amritsar and industrial hub Ludhiana were the hottest with highs of 45.4 degrees. Patiala town recorded a high of 44.4 degrees.

In Punjab, the temperatures were 6 to 7 degrees above average at most places.

Chandigarh had a high of 42.1 degrees, four degrees above average.

The hills of Himachal Pradesh were hot Sunday with Una recording a maximum temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius and state capital Shimla a high of 29.1 degrees, which was a whopping 6.5 notches above the average.

Dharamsala recorded a high of 32.8 degrees while the maximum temperature in Manali was 29.2 degrees Celsius and Kalpa in Kinnaur district was 25 degrees.